Eclipse director David Slade has defended the chaste relationship at the centre of The Twilight Saga.

The British filmmaker told journalists at the UK press conference for Eclipse that he wanted to confront the idea of sex before marriage with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), but admitted that vampire Edward still adheres to old-fashioned values.

Slade said: "We really wanted to address it because we didn't want Edward to continue to come across as a prude. [In the film Bella] says, 'You don't want to have sex?' and he says, 'I really want to!'. You can tell he does, but he just comes from a different period. I don't think the film, certainly not this film, takes that message."

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Slade added that the new movie flips gender representations, saying: "I think if anything it does two things: it's quite a role reversal - it sexualises the men rather than the women, and in a time when women are overtly sexualised it suggests that there can be a natural rhythm to a relationship, you don't actually have to jump into sex straight away."